DETERGENTS

D. JIM LIVINGSTON
ASST. PROF OF CHEMISTRY
St. JOHN’S COLLEGE.
 DETERGENTS
• known as surfactants with cleansing
properties
• decrease the surface tension of water.
• Mostly made up of petroleum
• Detergents are commonly available as
powders or concentrated solutions
 Advantages over soap
• Do not produce scum with hard water.
• impurities formed on the surface of a liquid
 Advantages over soap
• Detergents are made from synthetic materials
thus consumes fewer natural resources in the
manufacturing process than soap.
• Detergent is also typically less expensive to
manufacture than soap.
• Detergent maintains its cleaning power better
than soap over a long period of time.
 Structure of detergent
• Amphipatic molecules
Having both hydrophilic (polar) and hydrphobic (non polar)
regions

• Soluble in water
 polar group form H-bond with water
 non-polar aggregate due to hydrophobic interaction

they form micelles

(organized spherical structures which contain several
detergent molecules)
Amphiphatic molecule

A detergent-micelle
CLASSIFICATION OF DETERGENTS

DETERGENTS

Ionic Non-ionic Amphoteric/zwitterionic

Anionic

Cationic
 Ionic detergents
• Surfactants which carry an ion at the head
portion.
• The ion may be anion (-ve) or cation (+ve)
 Anionic detergents
• Contain anionic functional groups at their
head, such as sulfonate, phosphate, sulfate
and carboxylates.
• alkyl groups may be branched and those with
linear alkyl groups
• Ex: sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate
 Cationic detergents
• comprised of a positively charged head like
quaternary ammonium ions.
• they disrupt cell membranes of bacteria and
viruses.
• Ex:cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)
• dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, DTAC
 Non-ionic detergents

• characterized by their uncharged, hydrophilic

headgroups.
• based on polyoxyethylene or a glycoside.
• Ex: Triton X-100, Spans
 Zwitter ionic surfactants
• both cationic and anionic centers attached to the
same molecule.
• anionic part include sulfonates and cationic part is
based on primary, secondary, or tertiary amines or
quaternary ammonium cations.
• sensitive to pH and will behave as anionic or cationic
based on pH.
• Ex: Betaines, CHAPS
Non-ionic

Anionic

Cationic

Amphotheric
 FUNCTIONS OF DETERGENTS
• To disrupt the bipolar lipid membrane of cells
– In order to release and solubilize membrane-
bound proteins
• For the stabilization, crystallization, or
denaturation of proteins
• Reduce surface tension
• Increase miscibility,
• Stabilization of emulsions
 SOAP vs DETERGENTS
Soap Detergent
•From natural material • Synthetic material
•Will form scum in hard •No scum in hard
water water
•From fat & vegetable •From petroleum
oil product
THANK
YOU!!!